Masisi debuts with glowing defence of Khama
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday December 10, 2014 15:19
In his first official address to Parliament as the Vice President, Masisi used the one hour and 30 minutes he was allocated to take occasional potshots at the opposition, whom he said had overlooked or down-played the country’s economic achievements in their debates.
In a wide-ranging response that touched on specifics such as the Economic Diversification Drive, various agricultural policies and civil service salaries, he dismissed several of the key points raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Duma Boko, during his response to the presidential address.
“The Leader of the Opposition suggests that the BDP might ignore or sideline ideas and proposals from the opposition. Let me assure the Honourable Leader of the Opposition not to lose sleep over that. Fundamentals of democracy promote tolerance and appreciation for opposition,” he said.
On the contentious matter of pre-election coverage of opposition parties by state media, Masisi said he was surprised by the allegations of bias in favour of the ruling party. “When it comes to issues of fairness and a lack of balance in coverage, one wonders if they were confusing Btv and Daily News for some other media whose political biases throughout the campaign were overt,” the Vice President said. He took issue of Boko’s assertion that the recent elections were free but not fair. He dismissed the Leader of the Opposition’s condemnation of extra-judicial killings. In his response to the Address, Boko had quoted extensively from a press release he issued shortly after John Kalafatis’ death in 2009. Masisi asserted that as Khama said in his address, advancing Botswana’s record of peace, order and good governance; and upholding the rule of law has been central to five decades of uninterrupted progress under successive BDP administrations.
“In this respect, the Leader of the Opposition himself acknowledged that His Excellency cited some of the most recent independent comparative surveys, as well as domestic polling that continue to place us among the best in the world in terms of upholding the rule of law. One might add that many of these reputable studies rely on perception surveys of ordinary Batswana.
“One is, therefore,–– disappointed that the Leader of the Opposition in his statement thought it sufficient to dismiss the weight of such evidence by taking us back to an unfortunate incident dating back to 2009 that has long been addressed through the judicial process. And they accuse us of coming up with nothing new,” Masisi said.
Masisi said international observers agreed that the elections were free and fair, adding that Boko as a lawyer knows the legal definitions of the two terms. Parliament is due to go on recess on Friday.